Archived: Gillian King House

Updated 22 July 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 17 and 18 February 2016 and was announced.

The provider was given 48 hours’ notice to ensure the registered manager would be available to assist us with collecting information relating to the service.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector. A Provider Information Return was not requested prior to our visit (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they planned to make. The purpose of the information is to highlight risk and provide a summary of the service, people’s views and experiences.

We spoke with five people who received a service from Gillian King House. When visiting the office we spoke with the registered manager, three members of the nursing team, three care staff, two members of the HR team and two volunteers.

We reviewed a range of records about people’s care, including staff recruitment files, staff training records, quality assurance records, minutes of meetings with staff and incident reports. We also viewed policies and procedures, staff rotas and sample care plans.

The previous inspection was carried out in January 2014 and was found to be fully compliant at that time.

Updated 22 July 2016

The inspection took place on 17 and 18 February 2016 and was announced.

Gillian King House provides Hospice at home care. The service provides 24 hour access to specialist nurses to deliver planned and responsive care in people’s homes.

Gillian King House is the office base for the Hospice at Home nursing team for South Bucks and Wycombe.

There is a registered manager in place who has been in post for many years.

A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People received care and support in a personalised way. Their complex medical needs were well managed and staff were trained to meet these needs. Risks were assessed and managed. Staff knew people and understood their complex needs.

Staff were caring and showed people kindness and compassion. Staff were motivated and demonstrated a commitment to providing the best quality care in a compassionate way. People told us they were cared for to a high standard and this included on-going bereavement support for families. Planning for end of life care and post death support was provided to families. Bereaved families told us that the support had been invaluable.

There was a holistic approach to people’s care with the spiritual needs given equal importance. People received a responsive service with needs fully assessed, planned and met.

The service was aware of their responsibilities in regard to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). These safeguards aimed to protect people from being inappropriately deprived of their liberty.

The feedback we received from people was excellent. Those people who used the service expressed great satisfaction and spoke highly of the registered manager and staff. For example one person said “I wish there were more funds available for them to employ more excellent staff”.

The safety of people who used the service was taken very seriously and the registered manager and staff were well aware of their responsibilities to protect people. There were systems in place to ensure that risks were identified and addressed.

The registered manager ensured that staff had a full understanding of people’s care needs and had the skills and knowledge to meet them. People felt safe and secure when receiving care.

People had positive relationships with staff and were confident in the service. There was a strong emphasis on key principles of care such as compassion, respect and dignity. People who used the service said they were treated with kindness and said their dignity was always respected.

Changes to people’s needs were quickly identified and amended.

The registered manager was committed to continuous improvement. Feedback from people was used as an opportunity for improvement. The registered manager demonstrated a good understanding of effective quality assurance systems.

There were processes in place to monitor quality and understand the experiences of people who used the service. The registered manager demonstrated strong values and a desire to learn about and implement best practice throughout the service.

Staff were highly motivated and proud of the service. They said they were fully supported by the registered manager and a programme of training and supervision that enabled them to provide high quality service to people.

Professionals gave positive feedback about the service commenting on qualities, skills and knowledge of the staff. Staff were recruited safely and received an induction and specialist training to ensure they had the skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs.